The university has been an important instrument of control and of ideological legitimation in fascist regimes. The author
compares in this article the Italian universities of the Fascist period with those in Spain during the first half of Francos Dictatorship. Starting from the situation at the liberal university, the author analyzes the changes that took place in the structures of the universities of both countries and shows that, at the end of the process,
the similarities considerably outnumbered the differences, not only in terms of the administrative organization and management of the two university systems, but also in relation to the situation of the academic staff and to the role played by the students.